Microsoft Says It Sold 3 Million Xbox One Consoles In 2013

Microsoft sold 3 million Xbox One entertainment consoles last calendar year.

The company announced the updated sales figure in a post this morning, also noting that Xbox One owners had managed to accumulate “millions of hours of gameplay and entertainment,” collectively.

No doubt, the updated sales figures are good news for Microsoft’s internal Xbox Team. Though the console debuted to generally positive reviews, Microsoft’s last sales update indicated that the Xbox One was trailing Sony’s PS4 in terms of units sold. Back in December the Xbox One stood at 2.1 million consoles sold versus the 2.1 million PS4 consoles Sony managed to move.

As these numbers only account for the 2013 calendar year, it’s unclear where sales of the Xbox One sit at this very moment. It’s also impossible to use these numbers to gauge the console’s long term performance. For example, the console’s sales could have slowed to a crawl at the end of the holiday season. Unfortunately, Microsoft isn’t expected to share anymore global sales numbers for some time.

To be clear, maintaining console sales during the winter and summer isn’t an easy feat. The company will need to work with game developers to ensure that new game releases arrive without a hitch. It’ll also need to keep users excited about the console’s exclusive games. So far, the only exclusive high-profile title garnering accolades is Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall. Respawn’s founders created the Call of Duty first-person-shooter franchise before leaving Activision to start out on their own again. Titanfall doesn’t arrive until March. Xbox One versions of The Division, Destiny and Watch Dogs could seriously boost console sales too.

All that being said, there’s a lot that could drag down Xbox One sales in the immediate future. The Xbox One’s software hasn’t changed much since the console arrived in November. As such, things like chatting with friends in a group and customizing the console’s interface remain somewhat unintuitive. The console’s lofty price tag won’t do it any favors either.

Holiday shoppers who were eager to get their hands on a next-generation gaming system may have picked up the Xbox One during the holidays, however Microsoft now needs to convince everyday shoppers that live television, better graphics and the Kinect 2 sensor are worth $499 plus the cost of a game.